How to Become a Real Estate Investor in This Recession
By: CEO/Founder, Del
Walmsley & Executive Vice President, Lynn Murrow
Del Walmsley, CEO and founder of Lifestyles Unlimited, and Lynn Murrow, Executive Vice President recently discussed why investing in real estate is still wise even during the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated economic recession. The following is a brief summary of their conversation.
Del Walmsley:
There comes a point every now and then when the world flips upside down. Now is one of those times and you have to decide how you’re going to get through it. How are you going to work your way through something that seems to have no end? We can have contingency plans when working with definitive timeframes. The challenge right now is that no one knows how long the social distancing recommendations will remain in place. As a result, we’re all creating contingency plans that we’ve never even considered creating before.
There seems to be no solution to this situation. So, what do you do?
The first thing I need you to understand is that almost every entrepreneur out there makes it big when something bad happens. I know that sounds terrible, yet it’s true. Every disaster creates a massive opportunity.
Back in 2008 when the banks went upside down, people lost their jobs and couldn’t pay their mortgages. They were overleveraged. They had used all their money to buy their house and then they went through their meager savings quickly when they lost their job, and boom, all those houses came back on the market for real estate investors to buy. Same thing with apartment complexes.
At Lifestyles Unlimited, we teach a very conservative approach to real estate investing. My apartment complexes have cash savings that are equivalent to 3-6 months of operating expenses. In other words, we could make no money or make very little money for up to three months and we’d still survive. The mom and pop businesses that operate on a shoestring budget are going to take a major hit in the current economic environment. If you’ve been running your business that way, you need to join Lifestyles Unlimited right now and learn how to operate your business the right way. I tripled my net worth between 2008 and 2010. The recession hit in 2010-2011, which was followed by a historic 10-year increase in real estate value. Now we’re going to find out who’s well prepared again. You need to be in the prepared group. Why? Because I tripled my net worth in two years when the economy tanked in 2008. You can do it too, if you understand how and have saved some resources.
You may be thinking my
savings are tied up in the stock market. Isn’t this the wrong time to get out
of the stock market? It could be, but the stock market could also continue to tank,
and you’ll lose even more money. You should be thinking about where you can put
your money. There are people in real estate that are going to lose money and
they’re going to be afraid and they’re going to want to get out. And when they
do, we’re going to be able to buy at very advantageous prices that are going to
change our families’ futures. We’ve seen it over and over again, but we really
see it happen during these downturns.
To take advantage of the
current situation, you need information and education on how to buy real estate.
How do you get financing when the banks aren’t lending? Our members secured
loans back in 2008-2009. I did, too. That is what we do at Lifestyles
Unlimited. We give you the information and education you’ll need to navigate
the choppy waters ahead.
How does Lifestyles Unlimited
stay open during a pandemic? We’re like every other business in the world.
Lifestyles Unlimited team members have lives. They have families. Other people
in their families have jobs. They’ve got kids. They’ve got grandparents. All
are susceptible to this pandemic. But we have a mission, and if we can help save
some businesses, if we can help you save your business, you need to join our
group of like-minded investors. Here to help me discuss how we help can help in
the midst of this pandemic is Executive Vice President, Lynn Murrow. Lynn, how
do you do it all?
Lynn Murrow:
Well, I don’t do it all. The key is to have a team that is committed to a singular mission. Our mission at Lifestyle’s Unlimited is to help individuals change their lives for the better by creating passive income through real estate investing. That’s the singular focus of the entire organization. When you run upon a crisis, though, that is really when you prove your mettle. That’s where everybody is right now. Everyone has responsibilities and they’re presented with a novel challenge by a novel virus. The key is to keep your head up and look for opportunity when all you really want to do is curl up in a ball and go to sleep. That is the critical difference between people who succeed right now and people who fail.
To that end, Lifestyles Unlimited has been monitoring the pandemic situation very closely. We started working on contingency plans weeks ago. We’ve also been in constant communication with our team. We decided to close our offices when social distancing recommendations were put in place. Classes that we planned to host at the offices are now being offered online. Our members will not be bored during this this time.
We also have an incredible Free Workshop presenter in Houston and we have the ability to livestream his presentation, which allows us to bring the Free Workshop to the entire country and really the world. Anybody who is interested can participate.
If you’re not familiar with Lifestyles Unlimited, you’re really going to get a great sense of what the Lifestyles Unlimited community is like from the Free Workshop. You can register at freeworkshoplivestream.com.
Del Walmsley:
There are a lot of people out there who have wanted to make a change in their lives, but they’ve never felt like they had the time. Well now might be the time because we have online education that you can take while you are home practicing social distancing.
Our entire program is similar to a college-level education in real estate investing except that it’s brought down to what I would call human understandability. In other words, we offer a straightforward teaching approach by people who are successful real estate investors in their own rite.
Education arms you with information that erases fear. I’m not afraid of a recession. I’m actually ready for a recession – a crash in value of anything and everything. Why? Because I always keep myself very liquid. Also, I’ve mentally gone through the scenario many times, and I realize it presents an opportunity to do incredible things.
As people read article after article and see TV show after TV show, the normal person cannot overcome their fear to get to the analytical part of this whole process. Lynn, since you’re closer to this issue, please share how we can overcome fear right now.
Lynn Murrow:
I am getting email after e-mail from people who are not members of Lifestyles Unlimited and from people who are members of Lifestyles Unlimited. I can also sense the fear when I talk to people on the phone. For as long as I’ve known you, you’ve said fear is false evidence appearing real. We have that going on right now in the news media and it is whipping everybody into a frenzy. This isn’t a hoax. COVID-19 is real. We need to take some very simple steps to protect ourselves and the people that we love. Wash your hands. Pay attention to what you’re doing. Stop touching your face and don’t go out unless you need to. If you do go out, make sure that you’re taking precautions. It’s really simple. People also need to realize that the United States has a very strong economy. We will return to our basic economic foundation. It is not going to be the end of the world for everyone. There will be many opportunities that come out of this, but you do need to take some action.
You have lots of time to do things right now and you have a chance to change your life – even those of you that are working. Work is going to be ratcheted way down. It’s going to be much quieter, much less distracting. Seize this moment to learn more about real estate investing online.
As for members of Lifestyles Unlimited, watch your email. You have a lot of opportunities coming your way that you don’t want to miss.
